EKMH Innovators Interview Series
An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Regulatory technology company iComply Investor Services, Inc focuses on making financial markets more robust, secure, and efficient, aiming to improve the overall user compliance experience for all counterparties in every transaction. Founded by CEO Matthew Unger in 2017, iComply’s award-winning Regtech platform currently powers the digitization of institutional finance with coverage in over 160 countries, offering a full suite of compliance micro-service solutions to power and scale the next generation of digital finance in payments, identity and capital markets.
Unger has consulted on company’s innovation management strategies, ranging from high-growth startups seeking to scale into enterprise markets to major global companies such as Virgin Group and Investors Group Financial Services. Also an active member of his own community, Unger has also provided consulting services to Canadian Centre for Cold Climate Innovation, First Nations Technology Council, the Surfrider Foundation and others. After founding a $42M wealth management practice, Unger exited at age 26 and co-founded a practice management platform for wealth managers which was subsequently acquired by Planswell in 2015. In addition to his CEO role at iComply, Unger is an advisor, mentor and shareholder in multiple B.C. tech ventures and initiatives such as New Ventures BC and continues to volunteer at FINTRAC, Digital ID Working Group and the Surfrider Foundation.
I caught up with Unger via email — lockdown to lockdown— to learn more about his career and his views on a variety of topics including the potential effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic, FundsDLT, iComply’s Compliance Micro-Service Solutions, decentralization, the importance community involvement and his positive experience with mentors. Our interview follows.
EKMH: On which regtech problems in the fintech, cryptocurrency and blockchain industries is iComply focusing this year? How has the coronavirus shifted your focus?
Matthew Unger: iComply is focused on improving the integrity of user authentication and identity for financial transactions. Previously, most of our clients had been financial services providers so we were primarily focused on just KYC. Now, the demands of remote work have forced companies to explore financial grade identity and access management - whether for serving clients or team members.
iComply provides a suite of tools that allows businesses to verify a user’s identity without taking possession of their personal data. There are many digital identity services on the market but they all require users to either download a mobile application, or send their data via API to any numbers of third parties around the world.
Using our proprietary technology, we can serve governments, military, and financial services applications that other API based providers of KYC or identity verification cannot. This architecture not only makes our tools more cost effective, it is also designed to protect the privacy and personal data of the end users.
We have seen a massive increase in demand in just the past 3 weeks. Coronavirus has shifted our focus towards working with more established companies like Microsoft, Docusign, Thomson Reuters, and Refinitiv to ensure we can help as many companies through this transition as possible.
EKMH: What are your thoughts on FundsDLT, a new Blockchain-based investment industry platform? In which other ways can others be encouraged to move from private blockchain use?
Matthew Unger: Tools like FundsDLT offer a major step towards the transition into digital, but using public blockchain infrastructure is still a big step that financial services have yet to take. We have seen with Coronavirus that financial services providers are still struggling with how to manage KYC, AML, and user identity across borders.
Last week, a major VC told me how Morgan Stanley could not open an account for their SPV due to the quarantine and DTCC cancelled all physical services indefinitely. The private markets are still mostly manual, so tools like FundsDLT have a unique window of opportunity.
In the past few years, we’ve worked with transfer agencies, brokers, investment banks, trading facilities, and token issuance platforms. The biggest challenge these platforms face is actually their ability to provide assurance of the identity behind the digital wallet. Most of these platforms also have weak KYC tools, very few have an AML program in place. Once these platforms take care of these hurdles, they will have a license to print money in this new digital world.
EKMH: What types of problems do you anticipate as more people move from private blockchains to public blockchains?
Matthew Unger: Some of the first problems I expect to see as we transition to public blockchains is standardization of data, having different structures for storage like asset codes, dates, jurisdiction code, tax code, etc.. These are all things that are going to have to run on common standards. I think it will take some time for this to happen, and until then, digital securities will continue to be quite fragmented.
EKMH: How do you envision the future of decentralization? How can performance be increasingly streamlined and scaling supported? How will iComply’s compliance micro-service solutions and platform development continue to create solutions?
Matthew Unger: iComply’s microservices solutions for identity verification, live face matching, and document authentication are unique in the market because we provide each user with a unique verification program that runs on their device. This is different from an API solution where the user’s data has to be sent for third parties to authenticate - often without proper legal disclosure to the user.
Our focus over the past year has shifted towards “a connected and distributed world”. This means we are seeking strategic partners to help us deploy our technology as fast as possible. Partnerships with firms such as Docusign enable “smile to sign” for live face matching to government ID documents - all performed from within users’ Docusign signature workflow. We have similar integrations under development accounting, CRMs, government and corporate registries.
Things like privacy and data governance are difficult to scale across borders. The requirements of GDPR and user privacy regulation become very complicated when users move their data to another jurisdiction for processing - iComply’s client-side identity authentication solutions help businesses solve both of these problems at the same time.
EKMH: Throughout your career you have held community leadership roles. How would you encourage other business leaders to become more actively involved in their communities?
Matthew Unger: I have received a tremendous return on investment from many of the community projects I have been involved in. At the United Nations, I was able to contribute to a Digital Identity Charter. At DIACC, I had a chance to collaborate with some of the leading minds in digital identity on various working groups. At Surfrider Foundation, I have been able to contribute to new federal regulation and still volunteer to clean a local beach - a great way to spend a Saturday morning in Vancouver.
In many cases, the return on investment comes in the form of being part of a community, of leaving the world a better place. In others, I have gained experience serving on the boards of these amazing organizations - this has taught me a lot about corporate governance, management, and engaging your community. Finally, as someone who spends countless hours on my startup, these side projects give me an opportunity to give back and see someone else’s problems to gain perspective on the world around me.
EKMH: Which thought leaders and/or mentors have you found most influential and why?
Matthew Unger: Someone I consider a personal mentor is Richard Branson, who I had an opportunity to work with several years ago. He was incredibly generous with his time and had some really interesting insights that shaped how I look at business and how I look at working with other people including our team, clients, partners, and investors. Some of our investors have proven to be invaluable advisors as well, such as the former president of S&P, a thirteen-year CFO of Apple, Tim Draper’s network, and others. Due to their years of experience and access to information, these people have insights we simply do not have access to - without them we may not have been able to capture these opportunities and avoid a lot of the pitfalls of running an early stage venture.
EKMH: What are you reading and listening to now that you’d recommend?
Matthew Unger: Since COVID most of my time has been spent focusing on listening to the market, listening to what’s happening in the news, and trying to identify the signals among the noise. In the past few weeks, it is like we all were dropped into a first person shooter game where nobody has seen the map. Now, we have to get our bearings, and that’s a lot of what I have been doing the last couple weeks - watching how this changes the world, seeking advice from our advisors, and working with our team to navigate the new landscape together.
**Check out this compelling new post by Unger on LinkedIn: The CEO’s Survival Guide To Coronavirus: How To Self-Isolate Like A Boss
Readers, self-isolate and take care!